Caitlin Clark scored 21 points and came three rebounds shy of a triple-double as the Indiana Fever won a home game for the first time in three outings this season by beating the Seattle Storm 89-78 on Sunday night at Indianapolis.
Clark compiled 10 assists by early in the fourth quarter in a game that the Fever controlled from the early minutes.
Kelsey Mitchell and reserve Sophie Cunningham both finished with 17 points for the Fever (2-2), who overcame 20 turnovers.
Clark made all nine of her free-throw attempts as part of the Fever’s 22-for-22 shooting at the foul line. Clark also led Indiana with two blocked shots.
Indiana’s Aliyah Boston (lower leg) missed the first game of her four-year career.
Natisha Hiedeman poured in 19 points, Flau’jae Johnson posted 14 points, Zia Cooke had 13 points off the bench and Jade Melbourne added 12 points for the Storm (1-3), who shot 6-for-23 on 3-point attempts.
Seattle, which trailed by as many as 20 points in the second half, made a mini-surge in the final minutes, closing to within 89-77 on Hiedeman’s 3-pointer with about 2½ minutes to play. There wasn’t another made field goal in the game.
Indiana took a double-digit lead about five minutes into the game, scored 32 first-quarter points and went on to lead 55-44 at halftime. Clark had 17 points, boosted by a pair of 3s, by the break.
The Storm were held to six points across the first five minutes of the third quarter. They also had trouble cranking out points in the fourth quarter and they trailed 83-65 with less than six minutes to play.
The Fever put a big emphasis on defense after shortcomings at that end of the court in their first three games. They held the Storm to less than 20 points in the first and third quarters.
Seattle had allowed 77 points through three quarters and that was more than the Storm scored in their most-recent game in an 86-73 loss Wednesday at Toronto.
–Field Level Media
